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Friday, October 9, 2015

Does Size Matter by Christine Bush

(Grinning) I’m probably not going to talk about what you thought I was
going to talk about.

Does size matter? Does the size of your manuscript matter? It used to be a crucial point in the planning
and selling of a manuscript. And in some
arenas, of course, it still is.

With my books that were published in hard cover format, there were
actually physical limitations with the number of pages that could be stitched
together, and bound into each edition.
In the paperback and trade markets, it can be a matter of the cost of
paper, ink, and the weight of shipping.
Truly, these points have little if anything to do with our stories. Or our readers.

But some lines, especially in the romance field, are categorized as
“short contemporary or short historical”, or long. Some categories are expected to be “longer”
or “bigger books”. These delineations
have to do with reader appeal, some people have always preferred “long or
short” for their reads.

Ebooks have opened another option, and I see that option gaining
strength. Novellas (or shorter books,
usually described as being between 20,000 and 40,000 words) are becoming more
and more popular. In ebook format, there
aren’t lower end limits to the number of pages it takes to “print a book”. Novellas
can be a quick read, a great demand for the super busy reader who has
smaller chunks of time to devote to a story.

I began writing novellas a few years ago, especially around the
holidays. Readers keep requesting
more. There is something about the
shorter read that is appealing to today’s romance customers. It’s a challenge sometimes to get the
character depth and emotion into fewer pages, and usually we must forego much
in the way of subplots. But an
emotional, meaningful story can be crafted, and I’m finding it a lot of fun.

Today, bundling is becoming more and more common. I just had the wonderful opportunity of
adding a Christmas novella to “Sweet
Christmas Kisses 2”, an anthology containing 19 sweet romance novellas. It’s a long lasting Christmas present that
can be purchased with one click. Adding
novellas together (either several from one author, or several authors combining
their work) makes a nice sized book, yet with divisions that fit that “short”
criteria desired by busy readers.

Different strokes for different folks.
How about you? Readers, are you
enjoying novellas? Why or why not? And fellow writers, are you writing them?

What DOES size have to do with it?

Christine Bush is the award
winning author of many books and novellas of sweet romance and light mystery.
She also writes Middle Grade Fiction. When she isn’t writing, she can be found
working with clients as a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, or
teaching Psychology at a local college.
She lives with her family and two crazy cats in northeastern
Pennsylvania, and loves to hear from readers and aspiring writers. WWW.ChristineBush.com

Her latest book is a novella called “Christmas Laurel”, which is part
of the “Sweet Christmas Kisses 2” anthology.
You can find it at: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Google

Great question. I have written my first novella (25k words) and readers are telling me they can't wait to read it. To be honest, now I've written a novella, I love that length and will possibly write more. I am currently devouring all the Christmas novellas coming out from the authors in this group and finding that length novel is great when I'm busy and don't have time to get stuck into a long book.Christine, which one of your books do you recommend first?